Sway
by icantseeyourstar
Summary: Sasuke and Sakura's paths meet again and this time the roles are reversed- he needs her but she refuses to give her life up for him. So he decides to take it by force.
1. Chapter 1

**Just to let people know, this story goes AU after the Rescue Gaara arc, this is a year or two on from that though. This is also one of those annoying, establishing chapters… Bear with me? Please?**

**And just in-case some people don't like reading them: there's a mild, non-graphic lemon about half-way through this…**

**I own neither Naruto nor the lyrics to 'Sway' by The Kooks.**

**CHAPTER 1:**

__

Do whatever you have to do, to get it out and not become a reaction memory  
To hurt the ones you love you know you never meant to but you do

X

Sakura had just completed her favourite mission, one she was requested for four times a year. She accepted it whenever she could so this had been her third time meeting up with Nakamura Shinji.

The man was relatively young for such an established merchant and was tall and fit by civilian standards. He had made his name by cheaply importing regional variations of sake into his underground bar in Lightning Country (some may be inclined to call this boot-legging but Sakura liked to think her client was just an opportunist).

He had quietly expanded his business as much as possible until finally deciding to go legit nearly four years ago, with the help of a benevolent investor.

He moved his seedy bar above ground as it gained reputation, introducing more kinds of imported, hard to come by alcohol and eventually began selling his stock in a store-come-off-license in a building close to his now infamous road-house.

A year later he opened another store on the far side of Fire Country.

To keep thing 'fresh' for his patrons, Nakamura liked to move his stock around seasonally and decided to hire Konoha shinobi for the dual purpose of escorting him safely and carrying his merchandise like a pack-horse.

Sakura accepted her first solo escort mission (C-ranked but with surprisingly good pay) for Nakamura a little over two years ago.

They got on well together. Despite the age gap (Sakura was still 15 at the time while she suspected Nakamura to be edging into his late 30s), the man was a shameless flirt. And while she was a little put off by his intimate looks and flippant remarks at first, she now looked forward to the comfortable atmosphere the man carried with him. And she now knew him well enough to know that he didn't actually mean anything by it.

She liked Nakamura, or _Shinji _as he preferred her to call him, because he never got a bruised ego when she carried five times the weight as he did or insisted on a male shinobi escorting him instead of some, ''little girl playing dress up in her brother's clothes.''

And he always slips her a few bottles of high quality sake when they part ways.

This time it was a well aged, ornately designed bottle from Mist and an experimental new recipe, supposedly much more potent than regular sake, from what Shinji assured her was a, ''deliciously quaint little village in Tea Country, they do things properly there little Sakura, let me tell you! They know how to brew their alcohol!''

Sakura wrapped the bottles in layer or two of clothes to avoid inconvenient breakages, bowed to her client and leapt into the trees.

As she ran, she slipped a solider pill out of the small inside pocket in her weapons pouch.

The journey to Shinji's store had taken five full days travelling at civilian pace but Sakura was aiming to make it back to Konoha within two days max.

Her time with Shinji had been pleasant but uneventful. They hadn't encountered anything more deadly than a protective mother bear and her cub and they had easily managed to traverse around that.

These five days had been the longest she had gone without combat, friendly or otherwise, in quite awhile now and her body was feeling well rested. She was hoping that once the effects of the solider pill kick in she would be able to run straight to Konoha without the need to rest.

X

Sakura stopped suddenly, just seventeen miles from Konoha's gates.

She was being followed.

She silently cursed her oversight as the three enemy chakra signatures unmasked themselves - she was surrounded.

As the shinobi stepped out from the shade of the trees, Sakura's brain was already running through battle strategies and evaluating their impromptu battle ground.

The clearing she was in was dimly lit due to the heavy overhang of leaves in the tall trees. The forest is too densely packed and as Sakura drops gracefully to the well packed dirt floor, she silently laments that she probably shouldn't attempt using her signature, earth-shattering technique for fear of felling too many trees.

The leader of the opposing 3-man team speaks up, from her distance away from them, Sakura can see the gleam of his hitai-ate but cannot make out the symbol declaring his loyalty, ''Kunoichi, you will return with us to Sound for interrogation or you will die where you stand.''

Said kunoichi chuckled, a sound too light and soft to be considered threatening but it effectively conveyed her scorn at the other man's words. Did he really expect her to willingly trot off to Sound with them?

''You think this is funny? Ryo-kun doesn't make threats lightly, bitch!''

Sakura ignored the other kunoichi exclamations and turned her gaze back to 'Ryo-kun', the supposed leader of this little group of Sound-nin.

She cast a quick, image distorting genjutsu over herself and swiftly left a shadow clone in her place as the real Sakura masked her chakra and hid in the trees behind Ryo.

No one seemed to notice the switch so her clone began talking, keeping the shinobi's attention trained away from where her creator lurked in the bush, readying a series of kunai.

''So, asshole, or should I call you Ryo-kun?'' the clone giggled impishly, trying to rile up the enemy while simultaneously getting them to underestimate her seriousness as a shinobi, ''What is it you so desperately need to interrogate me about?''

Sakura had a pretty good idea why, however. She knew she was already in at least one bingo book - Mist's. She had a nice price too.

If these shinobi knew who she was and how close she was to Konoha's leader then why wouldn't they want to interrogate her?

Ryo smirked, ''That's for us to know, little girl, and you to find out.'' His hand twitched to reach for the katana strapped across his back when a kunai suddenly pierced his shoulder.

He moved instantly, easily dodging the barrage of shuriken that followed but Sakura was still surprised she had managed to get such an easy hit in.

His male team-mate, who had yet to say anything, made quick work of her shadow clone, slicing her body through with a katana identical to that of his two comrade. Sakura could hear him mutter the word, ''Kage Bunshin,'' like it was a curse before pin-pointing her true position and diving after her.

She was already locked in hand-to-hand combat with Ryo, parrying his katana with twin kunai. She drew her chakra into her foot before throwing her leg up and hitting him square in the chest.

The other man was clearly not expecting the sheer amount of force that came with the kick and failed to set his balance to counter-act it. Instead he flew backwards, sailing straight through three trees.

Sakura jumped after him, again making use of the weapon scrolls TenTen had taught her to use. She saw the look of pure shock that passed through Ryo's eyes before the well aimed group of kunai and shuriken hit him in the torso.

Sakura's medic trained eyes took note of the fatal wounds and quickly turned around to face the rest of his team.

A scream jarred her senses. The kunoichi, a pretty, if somewhat plain, brunette with green eyes and sugar pink lips stared in horror at the fallen nin.

She could see he had stopped breathing, his bright blue eyes were glazed and un-seeing.

''You… You k-killed him… How could she… _Why_?'' The girl stopped and Sakura could see her eyes glisten with unshed tears as she turned to face her, ''You little bitch! You killed him! How could you, you fucking cunt?!''

The Sound kunoichi's tirade ended in a feral, heart-broken shriek as she whipped out a kunai and attacked Sakura.

It was not hard for Sakura to fend her off. The girl wasn't thinking clearly for battle. About a year ago Sakura and Naruto had spent a couple of weeks training with Kurenai, Kiba and Shino for the jounin exams. The woman had drilled into the four of them how important it was to keep a level head in combat.

And now Sakura could see why.

The kunoichi was making rookie mistakes, constantly leaving her guard wide open and her aim was god awful.

Raising her arm to block a roundhouse kick aimed for her head, Sakura managed to get a foothold on the girls comparatively short shoulder and back-flipped away from her.

Sakura began a quick series of hand seals and blew a small fireball at the woman who only just managed to dodge it. Shiranui Genma had been teaching her fire jutsus even though it wasn't her strongest element.

She made a hasty replacement jutsu, counting on the fact that her opponent was too blinded by grief and anger to notice the switch and she snuck up behind the Sound-nin.

Gathering chakra to her finger tips she kicked the woman in the upper back, forcing her to fall forward.

Sakura followed and pressed her fingers to the kunoichi's temples. The anesthetising chakra reacted instantly, knocking the girl out before her brain could even register the invading chakra in her system.

The last remaining member of the Sound squad stood just five or six metres from her, an un-readable look on his face.

''You haven't yet killed her. Are you sparing her out of pity?'' The man's voice was carefully free of emotions.

''My reasons are none of your concern,'' Sakura answered.

Truthfully, she didn't know why she didn't finish off the woman when she had the chance, and now that she was unconscious Sakura would find it morally difficult to kill her since she was completely defenceless.

''Pity, then,'' the man replied. ''That's futile. Yuko lived her life only to be with Ryo. Now that he is dead it would be kinder to kill her too. She wouldn't be able to stand being spared by the woman who took away her reason to live.''

The nin's assessment of his team-mates mentality was brutally honest and accurate.

Sakura gave herself a second to process his words and be thankful that her days of recklessly obsessing over boys were long over.

Sure, maybe Yuko's relationship with Ryo was true, mutually devoted love and not a blindly one-sided crush like she had with Sasuke but still, the other man's evaluation of the girl hit a little too close to home.

Ignoring the flashes of her past that assaulted her momentarily, Sakura idly swung a kunai around her index finger by the ring before flinging it at the man.

It speared his forehead and his shadow clone disappeared in a puff of smoke.

Immediately, she felt a rush of air behind her and she ducked to avoid the chakra infused fist that would have smashed her skull open.

She dropped to the ground and rolled away when she sensed the shinobi aim another chakra charged punch toward her.

''Hm… It's been a long time since I've been able to use taijutsu against someone else with perfect chakra control,'' she told him, smirking. ''I hope you know what you're doing,'' she teased.

They had moved to a larger open space in the woods she decided to break up the earth a little in hopes of catching him of guard. He obviously had the same fighting style as her.

She raised her foot and slammed it back into the ground. A crack appeared right under her and spread across the forest floor in the Sound-nin's direction, throwing up large lumps of packed earth in some places and causing craters in others.

He stood up straight and bowed slightly to her, ''So you _are _Haruno Sakura then.''

She nodded solemnly, somewhat puzzled as to why he would have tried to capture her if they weren't sure who she was.

''We were warned not to just presume according to hair. You'd be surprised how many of the ninja in our Bingo Book have strangely coloured hair,'' he clarified, seeing the bemused expression on her face.

His stance shifted into a position she recognised from her own training with Tsunade, ''Then this will be a chance to test my own abilities!''

His sudden enthusiasm surprised her but she crouched low as he introduced himself, ''My name is Tanizawa Toshinori and I will be honoured to be the one to defeat you!.''

The man was instantly in front of her but Sakura was prepared for the bone crunching punch that came her way. Knowing better than to try and block it, she manoeuvred her body efficiently out of the way, twisting around his body to land her own hit to his side.

She could feel the solid muscle of his upper arm bruise and tear under her force and didn't miss the sharply controlled hiss of pain that escaped the nin's lips.

Tanizawa ignored the injury and his next three attacks came in quick succession, leaving Sakura no time to launch her own offensive.

Realising that his opponent was leaving no holes in her defence, he quickly spun around her body and the sharp heel of his elbow came down like a jack knife on the soft, tender area where her shoulder blade met the middle of her back and she arched away from him in agony.

It had been months since she and Tsunade had had time to train together and Sakura had almost forgotten how the pain of a well placed hit, amplified with the amount of chakra she could place into it, could feel like being stabbed repeatedly.

In her distracted state, Tanizawa managed to land a kick to the back of her knees. Sakura let herself fall forward, landing on her hands and kicking her legs into the air.

Predictably, Tanizawa had intended to follow through on his last attack and her foot made contact with his nose as he approached her.

Pivoting around to face him as she stood, she figured she had broken his nose, judging by the amount of blood that was pumping out of it.

Suddenly, the Sound-nin was couching against the forest floor, clenched fist creating a shallow crater in the dirt.

In compensation, several small boulders blew out of the earth but Tanizawa was waiting for them and he punched them forward towards Sakura.

She dodged them easily and used the brief seconds of low visibility between her and the other man to reach into her bag and pull out a small glass vial.

Her plan was formed quickly, she could end this fight in seconds if the man continued to be so predictable a fighter.

Even without the sharingan she could read his moves like the movements of a kata.

Deliberately getting close to him, Sakura lowered her guard for just a moment. But it was all Tanizawa needed to land a concisely controlled, chakra laced fist to her chest.

She could feel her ribs give out under the pressure even as she flicked her wrist towards the Sound-nin, praying that he would ignore the small prick of pain in light of his supposed victory.

His eyes, dark brown and tight with concentration, showed no recognition that he had been bested even though the muscle numbing, short lasting poison drifted through his blood stream. His adrenaline and fast heart beat would only help the toxin to disperse.

Sakura was working on healing the worst of her broken ribs the moment she stopped crashing through trees.

Tanizawa had followed her through the bush, presumably to finish her off, but by the time he was 12 feet from her his limbs had begun shutting down.

He only managed another two steps before his body collapsed to the ground.

Her chest still felt like someone was slowly sliding a serrated blade through her but she couldn't afford to expend any more chakra on healing herself right now.

Sakura stood up and approached the fallen nin.

"What did you do to me?" His voice was wheezy, a side effect to the dehabilitating poison.

She spared no time in answering, eager to finish up and return home, "It's a poison that affects certain parts of the nervous system," she explained mechanically. "It prevents controlled movements of the limbs, hands or feet, effectively causing paralysis."

Sakura swiftly tied his body upright to a nearby tree, ready for her questions.

"Ok, Tanizawa. What do Sound want with me?"

The man was silent for several seconds and Sakura, though largely uncomfortable with the idea of torturing a prisoner for information, began to think back on the interrogation courses she had taken with Ibiki after she was made jounin.

"I'll tell you whatever you want to know. I bear no loyalty to Orochimaru-sama's legacy in the face of death." His voice stunned Sakura from her thoughts.

"I'm sensing you have conditions?" She questioned.

"My team-mate, Suzuki Yuko, let her live."

There was a pause as Sakura's brain shifted through the information.

"I thought you told me it would be kinder to kill her," she answered.

"That is true… but I want her kept alive for selfish reasons." He paused and swallowed slowly, "My wife died in childbirth. I would hate for my daughter to be taken to an orphanage after my death. Yuko is the child's aunt, she will take care of her."

His explanation was devoid of any feelings or remorse but Sakura could see the regret in his eyes.

"Very well," she began, "But understand that if you lie to me, I will trace your daughter and team-mate back to Sound and kill them as retribution for your transgression."

The bound man nodded.

"What does Sound want with me?" She repeated.

"There are standing orders from the Otokage that all Konoha-nin of jounin standard encountered are to be brought back to Sound for interrogation," he smirked, but it seemed forced, "It's nothing personal."

"Why?"

"I have no idea, just following orders." His reply sounded truthful.

"And who is the Otokage?" Her question was simple but direly important. After Orochimaru's death at Sasuke's hands a couple of years ago, Sound went through a period of near civil war when no one could agree on a suitable successor.

In the last year or so, someone had managed to subdue and control the troops of shinobi and had named themselves the new Otokage, but neither Konoha nor her allies knew the man's identity.

Their ignorance would be a serious disadvantage if the rumours of a Sound-Mist-Cloud alliance were through.

"Orochimaru-sama's rightful successor is Uchiha Sasuke. As Orochimaru-sama's killer he has proved himself to be the strongest nin in Sound and is the only shinobi to have truly earned himself the honour of the title of Otokage-"

"Get on with it Tanizawa," Sakura's interjection was curt.

A slight cough and the man continued, "But Sasuke appears to have alternative goals to the ruling of Sound. He aims to kill his older brother, a man who, they say, murdered his own-"

"I did not ask for the life story of the Uchiha. I asked for the identity of the current Otokage." This time, the pink-haired woman sounded somewhat bitter, she had heard about Sasuke's 'goals' all too often in her life.

A sudden look of realisation dawned on the face of her captive, "Ah, I remember," he said, mostly to himself, "Haruno Sakura, apprentice to Konoha's Hokage, former team-mates with the Kyuubi jinchuuriki and Uchiha Sasuke… How could I forget?" He laughed slightly to himself and opened his mouth to say something else but Sakura cut him off once more.

"I told you to get on with it Tanizawa," she all but growled.

Sensing it was a sensitive topic, Tanizawa moved on, "Yakushi Kabuto. That's the name of the Otokage. I've never seen him but apparently he was Orochimaru-sama's second in command before Sasuke betrayed him."

"Kabuto," Sakura repeated. That was who Konoha's intelligence had suspected to have taken the position but it was still important to confirm.

"And there's a woman too, a pretty red-head with glasses, I've only seen her once, but apparently she's his most trusted advisor, or else just his lover, depending on who you believe."

"The red-head, is her name Karin?" Sakura asked, curious.

"Yeah, she used to be one of Orochimaru-sama's chief experimenters, and then she joined Sasuke's team when he left Sound," he explained. His voice suddenly sounded a lot more hoarse and tired.

It was another affect of the poison, in order for the state of near paralysis to wear off, the body tended to shut itself down to properly metabolise the toxin. It was similar to passing out after drinking far too much alcohol.

Sakura pulled a kunai out of her weapon pouch and approached him, severing the bonds that secured him to tree.

He fell forwards, unable to support himself on his useless arms, "You're not going to kill me, are you?"

She ignored the rather smug tone to his voice, "You're about to pass out, you should regain consciousness within the hour."

She left the clearing before she had the chance to regret her actions and before she could hear Sasuke's voice in her head telling her she would always be too weak to kill her prey.

X

Sakura's mission report to Tsunade was short, four simple words were uttered on the subject, "A success, Hokage-sama," and the matter was dropped.

The events which transpired after her mission, however, were recorded in great detail. The thought that Kabuto wanted Konoha shinobi specifically captured alive for information was understandably worrying to the Hokage.

"And you left two of the team alive, Sakura?" Tsunade questioned, incredulous.

"I feel uncomfortable killing people who have already been neutralised if it's not for a mission objective, Tsunade-shishou. The man clearly holds no loyalty to Kabuto, he's not going to prove a problem in the future and he's not going to tell Kabuto what he told me for fear of punishment," Sakura explained her reasoning clinically.

The older woman snorted, "He's still the enemy, Sakura."

The girl didn't bother pointing out that he was also a father.

Tsunade 'hmm-ed' and frowned and sighed for another few minutes before finally telling Sakura that her mission was complete and she was free to leave.

"Although Sakura," Tsunade's voice called to her as her hand rested on the knob of the door, "I just thought I should let you know that Kakashi and Naruto returned from their mission a couple of hours ago," the woman paused for effect, clearly up to something.

"I'm sure you want to go home, take a shower and rest up, but maybe you should get Blondie's inevitable need for attention out of the way before tonight…"

Sakura knew that by 'Blondie', Tsunade was referring to Naruto. Her best friend had been absent from the village for nearly two weeks and would more than likely hunt her down later if she didn't find him first, but Sakura was confused as to what was so special about tonight-

"After all, that disrespectful, dog-breath boyfriend of yours is due in from his mission around 9 this evening," the woman added with a wink.

X

''Fuck, Kiba!''

The Inuzuka's pace was relentless and the curiously pink haired kunoichi pushed her body harder to match his force. The pair were naturally competitive in all areas of life, Kiba because of his rather canine influenced genetics and Sakura because she spent her youth constantly trying to prove herself against team mates who had a natural advantage over her, and sex was no different.

He groaned and it sounded almost painful, ''Hurry up! I'm gonna… Ugh… I need to come.''

''Please, Kiba, please,'' she could feel his cock pulse demandingly inside of her and appreciated the fact that he was holding on for her, but Sakura knew how impatient he was.

He was hovering over her on the bed; the sweat beaded off his naked chest and dripped down on to her tits, which were jerking sporadically in time with her heavy pants. That visual alone forced him to trust harder, deeper.

''Fuck it… Oh God! Kiba!'' She moaned her release and Kiba could feel her walls pull and tighten around him.

'Finally,' the word briefly flew through his mind before a long, feral roar ripped from him as his subconscious informed his dick that he could now come, guilt free. Then all cognizant thought left him and all he could think, feel and smell was Sakura. Come exploded from his cock as he blindly pumped into her, her tiny body riding out the end of her own orgasm.

Slowly the feeling of complete and perfect ecstasy left him and in the pleasant after-glow he became aware that the sweat glistened kunoichi beneath him was laughing at him.

He pulled out but stayed above her, his strong arms effortlessly supporting his weight. He glared down at her slightly.

''What the fuck, Sakura?'' Kiba was not a self-conscious man but his sexual abilities were not a laughing matter. She stopped giggling and smiled sweetly at him.

''Your orgasm face is hilarious,'' she did a (poor) imitation of him; closing her eyes tightly with a look of constipated concentration on her face, tongue lolling out of her mouth and continued, ''You're a ridiculously beautiful man, Inuzuka, but I once walked in on Naruto doing a crap in my apartment when the lock on my bathroom door was broken and he looked exactly like that!''

Sakura began shaking with laughter again as Kiba rolled off of her and lay down by her side. ''Shut up, Pinky. That's the last time I wait for you. You can finish yourself off next round.''

This made her shut up. He sounded serious.

''Kiba?'' She pushed herself up on her side to look him in the eye, ''Kiba?'' No answer, he just grinned at her smugly.

''Hn. At least I'll _have _an orgasm face.'' She presumed he was referring to her inability to get herself off. In that way she _needed _him.

''Kiiiiba! I'm sorry, ok? I didn't mean it, Kiba?'' She gazed imploringly at him and then trailed her fingers down his muscular thigh. ''What if I made it up to you, hm?'' She gently cupped his balls, ''Would you forgive me then?''

She smiled when he took in a quick gasp of breath and arched his hips into her hand.

He moaned lowly and grinned broadly at her, ''Make it up to me all you want, sweetheart, just don't complain when I leave you wanting-''

He was quickly cut off by three curt raps at his window. Kiba swiftly pulled the off-white sheet over the both of them and yelled out, ''Yeah come in!''

His window was pushed open and an unidentifiable Anbu gracefully stepped into the room from outside. The cool white mask betrayed no awkwardness but the man coughed a little nervously before speaking, ''I am sorry to… disturb… you, Inuzuka-san, Haruno-san, but you are both needed at the Hokage's office immediately.''

Sakura spoke up, trying to ignore the deep red blush covering her cheeks, ''Eh, how did you know I was here?''

''I didn't,'' the Anbu swiftly replied. ''I was to stop and alert you at your apartment next.'' He gave a quick, shallow bow and left through the still open window, the pane sliding effortlessly back into place after him.

Kiba chuckled low in his throat and raised himself off the bed. ''We should shower together,'' he told her with a grin, ''it sounded urgent so there's no time to waste.'' He moved shamelessly to the other side of his bedroom to pull a clean pair of boxers out of his chest of drawers.

It would take him significantly longer to find all the necessary elements of his jounin uniform and he suspected that both of his regulation flack jackets were still covered in blood.

The thought was enough to gross out even him, the blood on one of them would have to be weeks old.

Sakura voiced similar thoughts, ''Inuzuka Kiba, your bedroom is disgusting!''

She was all but screeching, with a repulsed look on her face as she gazed around at the week old piles of food smeared plates and dishes stacked haphazardly in random corners; used underwear and sweaty training clothes were strewn across the floor. She was horrified to see her good, black lace bra thrown on top of a pile of odd socks that seemed to have something _growing _on them.

''Ugh! You're not part dog, you're part pig!'' She exclaimed. Wrapping the sheet (she didn't even want to think about the last time it was washed) around her naked body, she gingerly stepped across the room to retrieve her rather expensive lingerie.

''You weren't complaining about it half an hour ago,'' Kiba muttered to himself, not bothering to remind her that he wasn't _actually _part dog.

Well not _physically _at least.

But he knew she only said it to rile him up. He dug out a relatively clean black wife beater to go over the one mesh shirt he had found that didn't smell too badly of sweat.

His clothes were washed weekly when his mother came over to stock his fridge and make sure he wasn't running too low on toilet paper, so normally his bedroom wasn't in such a state of disarray.

However, his mom was due tomorrow so Sakura had got to see a weeks worth of build up.

She snorted, ''Half an hour ago I was too horny to concentrate on the smell.'' She had dressed into the clothes she had been wearing when she arrived at his apartment a little over two hours ago - TenTen called it her 'instant hot' dress; Kiba called it her 'fuck me' dress.

''I'm gonna run home and change,'' she softly told him, sauntering over to where he stood, ''I'll meet you at Tsunade-shishou's office in 15, ok?'' She leaned up and kissed him on the cheek. ''If I stay and shower here we'll never make it up there.''

''You know,'' his voice was low, practically a growl, ''Whenever you put that on it makes me want to rip it right back off you.'' He was talking about the dress; his hands wandering down her sides to linger at the hem that just barely covered her ass.

He heard her giggle before she evaporated into a small pile of fresh smelling cherry blossom leaves. She was gone.

Sighing as he gazed around his room, he headed for the shower. Kiba hadn't intended for Sakura to see how big of a slob he really was so early in their relationship.

In the six months they had been together she had only come over to his apartment once. It had only been their forth or fifth date but he knew he wanted to hang on to her so he enlisted his genin team mate, Hyuuga Hinata, to help him woo her.

By the time Sakura arrived his apartment had been as immaculate as the day he moved in, and the pink headed girl seemed genuinely impressed by the 'home cooked' meal that his indispensable former team mate had so thoughtfully provided.

Hinata had progressed no further in rank than a chuunin and was now training to be an academy teacher but she had remained a close friend of Kiba's.

He really appreciated her faultless companionship now that Shino had left the village. Though his departure was only temporary of course.

After having failed the jounin exams, the other member of Team 8 had left to further his training with a sensei in Sand who specifically dealt with chakra controlled insects.

Kiba had met the Suna nin once. He was stern and old, old enough that both Shino's father and grandfather had learned under his tutelage.

With none of the team mates from his childhood running in the same circle as Kiba, after being promoted to jounin he began hanging out with the other members of the Konoha 11 who had moved up in the ranks at the same time as him.

He easily rekindled his friendship with fellow childhood trouble-maker Uzumaki Naruto and through him grew closer to Haruno Sakura, a girl he knew from his academy days but never had much interaction with.

The stoic Hyuuga Neji, flamboyant Rock Lee, their female team mate TenTen and Sakura's only close female friend Yamanaka Ino had all made jounin at the same time and the 7 of them had become close throughout the following few months along with Ino's old team mates Nara Shikamaru and Akimichi Chouji who were still chuunin but occasionally joined them on missions.

Several of them have since drifted from the group after Chouji was killed in a accidental confrontation with a pair of Akatsuki members six or seven months ago.

Lee began training to be a jounin sensei to new genin teams. It would be several more years before he was actually given the responsibility of protecting and teaching some fresh-out-of-the-academy twelve year olds but he seemed to enjoy it.

Ino took Chouji's death the hardest and threw herself into training as a medic and has become a full time staff member of Konoha's only hospital.

She seemed to deliberately distance herself from her shinobi friends, quietly blaming the lifestyle, and by extension them, for the death of her best friend.

Her blatant rejection stung Shikamaru the most, obviously, but he too was deeply affected by his friend's death and withdrew his application for the next round of jounin exams.

He and Chouji had made a pact not to take the exams until they were both sure they would pass.

Shikamaru, however, continued to socialise with them whenever possible, unlike Ino. The only time Kiba ever saw her was when he or one of his friends landed themselves at the hospital. She had become an amazing medic but refused to treat shinobi-related injuries unless it was a life or death situation.

Instead she focused on civilian healings and Kiba had heard from Hinata that Ino was training to specialise as an OBGYN.

He knew the girl's departure deeply affected Sakura, the two had become nearly inseparable after making jounin together and this sudden and complete separation was hard on her.

Sakura was regularly called in to the hospital for some of the more dire shinobi cases and Kiba could tell she hated seeing Ino now that there was an enforced distance between the two.

Sakura's medical training had taken a back seat in preparation for the jounin exams a year and a half ago and, while she was still constantly improving on her skills in that department, she never went back to the discipline with as much fervour.

Sakura remained, however, a fantastic field medic and often went on Anbu missions as an assigned medic-nin. She was only 6 Anbu level missions away from being considered for an automatic promotion to a member of Anbu.

They hadn't talked about it much but Kiba was sure it was a position she wanted.

Naruto had recently had his status specially upped to Anbu without having to take the exam and had received his black Anbu tattoo two weeks ago. The 7 of them had gone out to celebrate but he could see the worried look in Sakura's eyes as she watched him.

She would jump at the chance to be Anbu just so she could keep a closer eye on Naruto during missions.

Kiba had no doubt they would be constantly put on the same team, just as the were when they were both jounin. The whole village knew how well the worked together.

What irritated Kiba was that she would then be taking more and more dangerous missions on a regular basis.

The double threat of a consistently more aggressive Akatsuki and imminent war from the Cloud-Sound-Mist allied front meant Anbu and upper level jounin were being sent on increasingly fool-hardy, although necessary, assassination and reconnaissance missions.

It scared Kiba that he was really, _really, _starting to like this girl and she seemed to be more than willing to put her life on the line for any one of her friends, and for random strangers.

He frowned at the thought as he finished pulling on his boots and leapt out the window, hurrying towards the Hokage tower.

His feelings for the petite, freakishly strong, pink-headed girl were making him angsty.

He wasn't used to actually _like _liking the girls he slept with and 'relationship' territory wasn't one he was unfamiliar with. He was unsure about many of the more non-sexual aspects to their relationship.

It didn't bother Kiba to admit that at seventeen and a half years old, Sakura was his first girlfriend.

But he knew enough about committed, intimate relationships to know that girlfriends were not supposed to admit to loving other men.

It fucking pissed Kiba off no end that Haruno Sakura was perfectly comfortable telling him, her notably possessive boyfriend, just how much she loved and _couldn't fucking live without _Uzumaki Naruto, self proclaimed future Rokudaime Hokage.

And it really didn't help that Naruto was the man she had lost her virginity to.

The canine influence in Kiba's blood demanded that she would belong to him and him alone, body and mind.

It was sometimes difficult to dampen down the rage and the urge to express a physical dominance over her and her 'boys' when he saw them together.

On top of Naruto, Kiba also had to worry about her closeness with Kakashi, her old genin sensei, and Sai, the ROOT Anbu member that had replaced the traitorous bastard Uchiha on Team Kakashi two years ago…

Thinking about his girlfriend's possibly divided feelings made him snarl in anger but he carefully pulled back his emotions as he climbed in the window of the Hokage's office.

He instinctively ducked his head to avoid the potted plant that came hurtling towards him.

''Can't any of you disrespectful little shit-heads learn to use the fucking door like normal people?! And when your Hokage throws something at you, you let it hit you, Inuzuka!''

This time Tsunade flung a ceramic cup in his direction but Kiba was prepared for her little outburst and dodged it. Luckily, the Godaime had already turned away from him to yell at someone else so she couldn't see him directly disobey her order to let her nail him on the head with airborne crockery.

''Nara, you lazy bastard, get you feet off of my desk before I forcibly remove them!''

Kiba took his seat next to Sakura, who smelt distinctly less aroused than the last time her saw her.

'Bad thoughts,' he said to himself, trying not to picture her in the ripped, silky thong he had found on his kitchen floor before he left his apartment mere minutes ago. He would never live it down if he got a hard on in the Hokage's office of all places.

Kiba realised Tsunade had finally finished her rant on respect and obedience and using doors instead of windows and had moved on to the reason why she had called them here. With Anbu captain Neji sitting straight-backed in the seat between Sakura and Shikamaru Kiba could safely assume it was for an impromptu mission.

''Now, I'm sorry to call the four of you in here so late. I'm aware that some of you,'' she gave a pointed look to Sakura, who blushed a light shade of pink, and then Kiba, who smirked rather smugly, ''Were busy. Nevertheless, we have just received a rather urgent request from the Kazekage. Suna's first Anbu captain Takeshi Sho has been captured or killed. Either way, he contains important information pertaining to both Sand and Leaf. Suna intel believes he was captured by Cloud 21 hours ago and is being transported to an interrogation base in neutral land close to the Earth country border. The rest of his squad were killed.

''Cloud's rumoured alliance with Mist has been confirmed and any information they can get out of Takeshi would be extremely detrimental to Konoha should they decide to attack. The Kazekage will not have shinobi skilled enough to deal with the situation for another 24 hours at the very least and by then it will be too late.

''Your mission is to track down Takeshi and his abducters. Should he be alive you will send word to the Kazekage and he will send out his own team of Sand-nin to help you after the retrieval to get him swiftly and safely back to Sand. If he is dead you are either to destroy the body or, if able, return it to Suna for proper burial.

''Hyuuga, you're team leader. This mission is A-ranked and you will leave A.S.A.P. I want up to date reports _daily._ Inuzuka, where's the fur-ball?''

''Sleeping, Hokage-sama. But Akamaru will be awake and ready to go by the time I get back. He knows the drill,'' Kiba answered smoothly.

''Very well, get going. Hyuuga, you have five days at the very latest to have all four mission reports on my desk, understood?''

If Neji was any other man he would have smiled, that last command was Tsunade's way of saying, 'your team is important to me. Keep them safe and make sure they're all returned in large, easy-to-reassemble pieces.'

''Understood, Hokage-sama.'' He bowed respectfully and proceeded to the window where his comrades were already leaping out into the cool night air.

''Do you brats ever listen to a single thing I say?! Use the goddamn door!'' The aging woman stopped shouting and sighed, sitting down heavily in her chair.

Sakura turned around and smiled at her, ''Don't worry Shishou, see you in a few days.''

.

Tsunade snorted but smiled back a little cynically, ''Just don't mess up, Sakura,'' she loved the girl, she truly did and assigning her this particular mission left her with a bad taste in her mouth. ''Go on, get out of my sight,'' she commanded, pointing disdainfully at the window.

Sakura's smile grew, ''See ya.'' She waved casually as she left, flitting out the window and into the dead of night; ghosting over the roofs of houses until she disappeared from view.

X

__

Oh, yes, you know, I will give it you all…

**XThe KibaSaku is just a side paring, don't worry, Sasuke shows up next chapter! You can probably see I have no idea what I'm doing here (like seriously, Yakushi?? Is that even his name?), so constructive criticism would be most appreciated!**

**If you've made it down this far then thanks for reading!**


	2. Bonds?

_**I don't own Naruto or the lyrics to '1,2,3,4' by Feist! **_

_**Sasuke finally appears! And he's kind of an asshole!**_

_**CHAPTER 2: Bonds?**_

X

_Those teenage hopes, who have tears in their eyes,_

_Too scared to own up to one little lie._

X

"We're splitting up." Hyuuga Neji's tone was commanding and authoritative, "Inuzuka, Haruno, you will take Takeshi and rendezvous with the Sand-nins 53 miles south of our position. Send Akamaru to us when you are finished. Nara and I will continue after Takeshi's abducters and find out what they know."

Infiltrating the Cloud interrogation base had been simple enough. The team had largely come out unscathed, the worst injury being Shikamaru's strained wrist.

They had managed to get their target, Takeshi Sho out safely, but his captors had fled they area.

Neji and Shikamaru had decided to continue after them in order to destroy any information they had been able to get out of the Anbu captain while Kiba and Sakura would pass their cargo on to a group of Suna shinobi returning home from an assassination mission.

Sakura had already healed the man's extensive physical injuries - the interrogators had been _brutal_.

The man had regained consciousness only once, to let out a pained, ear-numbing scream when she had began to heal the severed blood vessels in his now empty left eye socket.

His right eye had, mercifully, been left undamaged. There was no swifter way to end a shinobi's career than striking them completely blind.

Kiba carefully lifted Takeshi's prone body onto his back and nodded at his girlfriend.

"Ready to go?" She asked, waving a short goodbye to the other two members of her team.

"Yeah, let's get this over with," he grumbled unhappily.

Sakura sighed, she knew Kiba still bore a _slight_ grudge against Sand-nin. He got on well with Temari, the Kazekage's sister and political envoy to Konoha, but in general, he tried to avoid dealing with shinobi that he didn't know and therefore, in his mind, couldn't trust.

Mindful of the recuperating nin on his back, Sakura sauntered up to Kiba and pressed her lips gently against his, "Don't worry about it, baby, I'll protect you from our evil, scary allies," she smirked at him before dancing off into the distance.

X

_Sleepless, long nights_

_That's what my youth was for._

X

Beside Sakura, Kiba tensed slightly but fought the automatic urge to sink into a protective crouch in front of her when the small, 3-man retrieval team of Sand-nin came through the trees and landed in front of the pair.

Akamaru's hackles raised at the sight and smell of foreign ninja but one look from his master calmed him down.

Despite the long standing allegiance between Konoha and Suna, relations could sometimes be strained between individual shinobi who found it hard to forget about the past. It was also an innate response for shinobi to mistrust anyone who bore a hitai-ate different to their own.

Sakura, as a former apprentice to the current Hokage, best friend to the supposed future Hokage and a close personal friend to the Kazekage, found it simple to slip into diplomatic easiness.

On the other hand, Kiba had had no significant interactions with Suna-nins since the train wreck of a chuunin exam he participated in four or so years ago.

Naturally, he found it a little more difficult to avoid bearing his fangs at the men. And due to the Inuzuka blood running through his veins, now that he and Sakura finally acknowledged that their relationship was more than just a casual thing, Kiba had almost instantly developed a strong, protective bond over her and viewed these unknown elements as a threat.

"Haruno, a pleasure to see you again," said the tallest of the three Sand-nin, obviously the leader and spokesman, with a shallow bow.

Sakura returned the action, recognising the man as Sasagawa Aoi.

Several of the 'diplomatic missions' that her, Naruto, Shikamaru and occasionally the rest of Team Kakashi were sent on to Suna involved getting blindingly drunk in a sake bar with the Kazekage, his siblings and some of his most respected nin.

-to encourage friendship and trust between the villages, of course-

And Sasagawa had frequently joined them, having been on Kankuro's genin team.

"Although the circumstances are unfortunate," Sakura acknowledged.

As Kiba handed over the unconscious Anbu captain she gave a small friendly smile and bowed respectfully to the other two shinobi Sasagawa was leading.

"I've healed his wounds," she continued, referring to Takeshi. "The physical ones at least. I knocked him out with chakra to make it easier for you to transport him back to Suna - it's hard to tell what kind of mental state he will be in but he should regain consciousness within seven hours," she informed them, glancing at the sun to determine the time.

"As I said, I can't guarantee the condition of his mind. He was certainly tortured - the rest of our team are currently trying to learn what information, if any, Takeshi released. My team leader will report the findings to Kazekage Gaara-sama in person after filing his mission report with the Hokage-sama."

"Understood, Haruno. On behalf of Takeshi's wife and two sons, I thank you for accepting and successfully completing this mission," Sasagawa bowed to both Sakura and Kiba in turn before eyeing a panting Akamaru a little uneasily.

After a moments hesitation he dipped his head in the dogs direction as well.

With that little display of recognition, Sakura could practically feel Kiba warm up to that man while Akamaru gave a happy bark.

Sasagawa gave Sakura one last smile before signalling to his team mates and the three of them ran towards the trees, Takeshi's limp body supported on the back of one of the other shinobi.

"Well, I suppose that's our half done with," Sakura said, stroking Akamaru behind the ears.

"Yeah, I'm gonna send Akamaru on ahead to meet up with Neji and Shikamaru," Kiba stated with an easy smile.

He turned to Akamaru and Sakura could tell they were doing their freaky mind communication thing. Kiba frequently spoke to the canine out loud, he said it was more natural to hear, but in mission environments it was an easy way to prevent unknown spies over hearing certain plans.

"Hey, Kiba," Sakura began after patting a woofing Akamaru on the head as he bounded past, "Is Akamaru ever going to start talking, you know like really talking, so that everyone can hear him, like with your mother's wolf?"

Kiba easily slung his left arm around her shoulders as they walked slowly after the beast, they had several hours before they were expected to meet up with Shikamaru and Neji so there was no real need to hurry.

"I'm not sure. Akamaru's not from the same pack as Kuromaru so there's no reason to think he would - but there are records of other Inuzuka hounds spontaneously starting to speak. But it's not like he's a summons, like Kakashi's nin-dogs or anything," Kiba answered.

'_Hmm… it's expected for my mutt to reach Neji and Shikamaru in hour or so_,' Kiba thought to himself, '_But it would be perfectly understandable if we were a little late, given how much chakra Sakura had to expend to heal the Suna-nin on top of fighting… hehehe… maybe we have time for a little break_.'

The Inuzuka heir slowly dragged his arm down Sakura's back until his hand made contact with her firm, round ass.

"Kib-"

He swallowed her objections with a bruising kiss, his other hand fisting gently in her pastel pink locks.

Sakura's hands wound around his neck, pulling his body closer as she moaned into his mouth.

They had been travelling in a team for the past two days so, for proprieties sake, they had done nothing naughtier than hold hands.

'_But now we're finally alone and I've always liked the idea of outdoor_-'

Kiba's hastily made plan of seducing his girlfriend and doing her up against a tree in the middle of the forest was cut short as a sharp scent suddenly invaded his nose.

He pulled his mouth away from Sakura's and lightly sniffed the air, "Enemy," he mumbled to his partner.

Who ever they were, they weren't in range to get a read on their chakra but they were closing in on Sakura and Kiba's position fast.

He heard Sakura gasp beside him, she was better at sensing chakra signatures than he was, "Sasuke," she whispered almost reverently.

Kiba immediately felt his blood boil, "The traitor?" His voice came out as a growl.

He didn't know why he asked, what other Sasuke could it be?

He was sure he didn't know the full story of the early days of Team 7, but he had seen first hand how messed up Naruto and Sakura had been when they finally agreed to give up on their missing member.

It was a little over a year ago, the now disbanded Team Kakashi (minus Kakashi, ironically enough) had ran into Sasuke on a routine mission and tried to convince him to return home.

In retaliation, Sasuke hit Yamato with Chidori, speared his Kusanagi through Sakura's chest and trapped Sai in an intense genjutsu before breaking four of his ribs.

Then he told Naruto that he could either get his friends to a medic and save them, or he could chase after a someone who didn't want to caught. According to Sakura, Sasuke had said that if Naruto could catch him, he would willingly go back to Konoha with them.

But Sakura was bleeding out, Yamato was going into shock and one of Sai's broken ribs had punctured his lung.

There was a good chance Naruto would eventually catch up to his old friend but it would come at a price.

The blonde made his choice and Sasuke got away.

Kiba knew that no one in her childhood had made as big an impact on Sakura as that bastard Uchiha did.

He glanced at her warily. Kiba trusted his girlfriend as a loyal Konoha shinobi but a part of him was worried by the dreamy look on her face.

He knew she used to be in love with the other boy and the idea sparked a bitter feeling of jealousy inside of him.

'_Will she really go to him_?' Kiba wondered morosely, '_After all this time, does she still want him? Am I just second best_?'

The chakra signatures of Sasuke and his team mate, Sakura couldn't be sure which man was with him but she thought it was the Mist nuke-nin, had stopped several hundred metres to their east.

Sakura got the feeling they were baiting her, trying to draw her into a fight for some reason.

Although naturally curious by nature, she didn't really care about anything Sasuke had to say to her at the moment.

A small, secret part of her still longed for the day he would return to Konoha so they could be a family again, her and Naruto and Sasuke and Sai and Kakashi- but she was done chasing him.

She still resented what he did to Naruto last year. More so than injuring her, Sakura was bitter that he had made Naruto choose between them like that.

If Sasuke was willing to repent, she would forgive him but until then she didn't think she could stand seeing him without trying to kill him.

She turned away from the source of the chakra signatures, "Lets go Kiba," she said softly, "Neji will be pissed if we keep him waiting."

X

_1, 2, 3, 4, _

_Tell me that you love me more._

X

"Juugo, keep an eye on the rest of the team and prevent all interference," Sasuke's tone left no room for objection and the large blonde man followed his order obediently, leaping into the trees on his right and positioning himself a good sixty metres from where his team mates were.

The other two Konoha-nins and that monstrous dog were somewhere ahead of him, Juugo couldn't sense them but if they wanted to break up the impending fight between the pink kunoichi and Sasuke, they would have to go straight through Juugo and the man was not going to make it easy for them.

Juugo hated fighting apart from Sasuke. The sharingan eyed Uchiha was the only one able to control his …urges… while fighting and if Sasuke ordered him away then it usually meant he _wanted_ Juugo to utilise his cursed seal.

The animal lover knew his team leader held no attachment to his former comrades. Sasuke would feel no remorse if Juugo was to go berserk and kill them, so long as the rest of his plan worked out.

Juugo, however would carry enough guilt for the both of them.

X

_You know who you are._

X

Sasuke did not have long to wait before Sakura's chakra came into range.

He frowned.

She was still with the boy from the dog clan. Sasuke vaguely remembered him as being friends with Naruto in the Academy, and he had been as much of a loser as the dobe was.

Beside Sasuke, Suigetsu smirked, also sensing their targets charka signature.

"Well, she's still with her little friend, you want me to take him out?" asked Suigetsu, bloodlust positively radiating off him.

"No, distract him and leave the kunoichi to me, but do not kill him," Sasuke ordered.

Suigetsu snickered, "Yeah, yeah."

There was a few minutes of silence and then-

"They're not coming… maybe you don't interest the pinky as much as you thought you did…" he chuckled again, "Or maybe she's frightened, you did try to kill her and her little blonde boyfriend in the past, perhaps she's trying to keep the latest catch alive?"

Sasuke ignored the boy to his left. He had presumed that letting Sakura sense his presence would be enough to draw her in but now it appeared he would have to go to her.

He gracefully ran forwards, heading in the direction of his former admirer and, as always, Suigetsu followed obediently.

X

_Old teenage hopes are alive at your door,_

_Left you with nothing but they want some more. _

X

The pair had turned to leave the clearing when Kiba suddenly growled again.

"It's too late, they're coming," he stated, anger and hatred rolling off him.

"Can you smell how they're feeling?" Sakura asked. Kiba's nose was amazing, sensitive to the point where he could actually _smell _strong emotions off people.

He nodded once, "Excitement, bloodlust, impatience… They want to fight."

"I'm taking Sasuke." Sakura left no room for argument in her voice.

"No way babe, I'm not letting that sociopath anywhere near you after the last time you two ran into each other," Kiba objected. "I've already called Akamaru back, Neji and Shikamaru are finished on their side and they're right behind him. Let's try to delay them until he gets here alright?"

The Inuzuka was not a misogynist by any degree but his canine influences urged him to protect his female partner. He knew Akamaru felt the same drive to protect Sakura, once his hound was here he'd feel a lot better about the pink haired kunoichi taking on dangerous nuke-nins.

Besides, Kiba _never_ fought without Akamaru.

"Kiba, this isn't up for debate. Sasuke isn't one for pleasantries. When the time comes he and I have a shitload of unfinished business, alright? I can look after myself."

Kiba opened his mouth to argue again but closed it as their opponents walked into view.

He hadn't seen the youngest Uchiha in four years but the boy hadn't changed at all.

Well, he looked older, his features more sharp and angular, his jaw significantly more pronounced and his hair slightly longer.

But his eyes were the same dark, soulless pools of blue Kiba could remember from their youth and they still carried the same empty yet hateful look he had seen all those years ago.

Kiba scoffed audibly, he liked to think his girlfriend had better taste then _that_.

"Sakura…" the Uchiha began, "It's been awhile."

"Not long enough," her voice was tight with tension and barely concealed hatred.

The white haired man holding a large, oddly shaped sword standing beside Sasuke chuckled darkly. His eyes glinted with evil intent but when he spoke his tone was surprisingly light and carefree, "What smells of dog? I thought that mutt ran off?"

Sasuke grunted, "It seems you've been playing with Inuzukas, Sakura. I hope you haven't caught anything."

Sasuke, though still an emotionless asshole seemed to have developed a liking for trash talk. Sakura was not surprised, she supposed it was natural for an Uchiha to enjoy bringing people down when they were raised to believe they were superior.

"Shut up, Sasuke," she instructed irritably, "What are you doing here?"

A handsome smirk angled the corner of his lip.

"I just wanted to check up on you, to see how you were getting on without my sword through your chest," he paused, gaze drifting down past her collarbone for just a second, "Still alive, it seems."

A low, dangerous growl came from Kiba's throat. "Uchiha. What do you want?"

Sasuke turned his condescending glare to the other man, "Hn, you can run along, dog. I have no business with you." His gaze swivelled back to the kunoichi, "Sakura, you will come with me."

The girl in question gave a short, completely humourless laugh, "I thought you were supposed to be some sort of genius Sasuke - do you really think I'd go anywhere with you?"

"You would, if you had any sense," he snapped at her.

Next to him, Suigetsu sighed dramatically, "Boss, this is taking far too long. She's obviously not gonna come willingly. Can't we just move on to plan B?"

'Plan B' was Suigetsu's favourite type of plan.

It was quite simple really: overpower the kunoichi and 'coerce' her into agreement.

If there was one thing Suigetsu was good at, it was coercion.

Sasuke's eyes closed briefly and when he lifted his eyelids again, they were sharingan red, "Very well."

Even as he spoke, Suigetsu was already pulling the sword off his back and moving towards Kiba, "You're mine, dog-boy."

X

_Sweet heart, bitter heart,_

_Now I can't tell you apart._

X

Sakura flipped out of the way of Sasuke's katon.

"Kage Bunshin no jutsu," she whispered, quickly creating two shadow clones to run recklessly at Sasuke as a diversion while she carefully approached him from behind.

She knew the kunai her third shadow clone threw wouldn't hit but it forced Sasuke closer to her.

At this range it was easier to engage him in taijutsu. While she was no master at the art, her ninjutsu was no match for Sasuke's. At least with taijutsu she was closer to his level.

Concentrating her sight on his chest and shoulders in order to avoid being drawn in by his sharingan, she found she could dodge his offensive attacks with relative ease.

Ripping a shuriken from her pouch, she just barely managed to parry the ragged swipes he was making at her with his kunai.

Twisting around his body, Sakura drove the shuriken into his left shoulder, while taking out her own kunai, hoping to get him on the defensive.

Sparing a glance at her boyfriend, he seemed to be fairing pretty well against the Mist nuke-nin.

She could see several shallow gashes and a broken finger that the medic in her desperately wanted to heal but Sasuke forced her to concentrate on her own fight with a swift, bone breaking kick to the ribs.

She flew backwards but regained control of her body quickly and somersaulted in the air to land on her feet.

Sucking in a painful breath of air, she tried to ignore the winded feeling in her chest as Sasuke jumped backwards a few feet and began a rapid set of hand seals.

She instantly recognised the formation from her training with Genma and started to create her own fireball to counter it.

Her flame, though normally impressive for a ninja who isn't naturally apt to fire elements, looked pitiful compared to the one produced by the Uchiha.

The man in question snorted, "Are you trying to defeat me with my own techniques, Sakura?" he asked, mockingly, "Will you attack with Chidori next, I wonder?"

He chuckled, "I wouldn't recommend it."

"You're still an arrogant bastard, Uchiha," she spat, though she could see it had been a mistake trying to get the better of him with an attack his clan were famed for perfecting.

"Hn, you're still annoying."

Sasuke was somewhat impressed by her improvement in skill, however. The weak kunoichi of Team 7 had actually managed to land a few painful hits on him and had dodged the majority of his attacks.

Though, he still needed to test if her medic skills were up to par.

As if on cue with his thoughts, a sudden, pain-filled growl cut through the air.

Sakura stopped the genjutsu she was creating, though she knew Sasuke's sharingan would see right through it, it would still take him a couple of seconds to dispel it.

At this distance from him, that would have been all she needed to land a knock out hit to his thick-headed skull.

Instead she turned to the source of the cry and her world seemed to stop at what she saw.

Suigetsu's monstrosity of a sword was sticking straight out of Kiba's back.

Her team mate was arched away from the weapon and with a sharp pull, the sword was wrenched out of his back, a thick spray of blood immediately flowing from the long, deep wound.

Kiba let out a second roar of pain at the sensation and fell to his knees.

The swordsman was laughing. A sick, brutal, _gleeful_, laugh that froze the blood flowing through Sakura's veins.

"I guess it's over for you, dog-boy," Suigetsu said, he raised the sword again, preparing for the fatal blow when a small pink blur crashed violently into him.

The force and the shock of the hit sent Suigetsu flying into the dense forest of trees several dozen metres away, dropping his sword in the process.

Sakura was already on her knees beside Kiba, pushing him down to lie on his stomach and driving her healing chakra into the gaping wound.

He groaned in pain, "S-Sakura, get out of here, Neji and Akamaru got caught in a t-trap," he coughed, blood staining the grass in front of him.

"Shut up, I swear to god Kiba if you ask me to leave you here I'm going to pound your face into the dirt."

Her cool green chakra was doing it's job, knitting ruptured blood vessels back together and repairing the damage caused where Suigetsu's sword tore through his lung.

Sasuke walked towards the pair slowly. He needed to see how proficient Sakura was a healing serious field injuries, true, but he was also quite pissed off that she had abandoned their battle so easily.

"Hn, for a moment there I thought you may have actually improved your skill in the past few years, Sakura. But you're as impulsive and blind as ever."

She ignored him.

She didn't even look at him.

'_Does she not know who she's dealing with_?' Sasuke raged internally, '_Does she really believe she can turn her back on me and survive_?'

Outwardly, he remained as impassive as ever.

He was tempted, for just a second, to slit her throat from behind, to teach her a lesson.

Instead he stopped in front of her, standing on the other side of the fallen Konoha shinobi.

He noticed that the boy was still conscious, his hands were fisting in the grass in attempts to deal with the pain, and Sasuke could faintly hear the Inuzuka whispering something to Sakura, whose eyes were beginning to fill with tears.

"Shut the fuck up, Kiba! You're worse than Naruto at times like this," Sakura was shouting while her chakra invaded his body, hurriedly trying to mend his shattered rib cage back together.

His lung was healed but still half full with blood, if she didn't get it all out, he would eventually drown on his own fluids, but she wanted to reset the bones in his back first.

"You are _not fine_, you stubborn idiot," she continued.

Sasuke realised her tears had begun to dry up, she hadn't let a single one fall, quite the contrast to the early days of Team 7.

"Sakura," the dark haired man spoke again, angered about not getting any attention.

She continued to ignore him, solely focusing on the brunette lying prone on the forest floor. Said brunette began to raise himself off the ground, seeing his attacker return, "Saku-ra… run!" Kiba's voice was weak and hoarse.

She pushed him back down and her voice took on a shrill note of desperation, "Kiba! Stop it, Kiba, please. Just let me finish, okay-"

She stopped talking when she felt the cold sting of a kunai at her neck.

"I really didn't appreciate that, bitch," Suigetsu's voice was as sharp as the blade he held to her throat.

Sasuke's sharingan could see the goosebumps that broke out on her skin but Sakura never took her eyes off her hands that were still immersed in the large wound oozing blood from Kiba's back.

While the fatal damage had been taken care of, she still had to reconnect the skin to seal the wound. He had lost far too much blood already.

Sasuke shot a pointed look at his team mate, warning him not to do anything stupid.

"Sakura, leave the boy. Juugo is taking care of the rest of your team, come with me and I will call him off. Comply quickly and they might make it in time to save him."

Sakura still didn't bother making eye contact with him but least she acknowledged he spoke this time.

"You know what, Uchiha? You're pathetic. You act like you're some invincible, all-powerful shinobi, but you're nothing more than a little child that resorts to violence when you don't get your own way."

Suigetsu had the sense to move out of the way before Sasuke attacked the girl.

He ripped Sakura away from her patient, his grip on her upper arm tearing her right shoulder from it's socket in the process.

He felt the joint dislocate under his grip but her facial expression gave no impression that he had hurt her.

"Do you really think you're any match for me, Sakura?" He hissed.

To her credit, she didn't give up, instead she tried to attack him.

But in light of her panic and worry her brain seemed to forget every ninja lesson she had ever learned.

She attacked him with no order or strategy, using her pure brute force to try to disconnect herself from Sasuke's painful grip.

He felt her nails, short but sharp, sink into his arm drawing tiny droplets of blood to the surface.

"You bastard, let me go!" Her struggles were fruitless and Sasuke decided he had put up with her insubordination long enough.

Charging a relatively small amount of chakra through his hands, he quietly mumbled, "Chidori," before pressing his palm to her abdomen.

He held his hand there for just a brief moment but the effect was instantaneous.

She drew in several sharp breaths before slumping against his body.

"Prick, let go of me," she murmured weakly.

Her blood leaked through his fingers and he held her body away from his long enough to ensure it was just a flesh wound, he didn't have time for her to be healing herself aswell.

Grunting with satisfaction at what he saw, he smirked at her and passed her temporarily obedient body to a grinning Suigetsu.

"Well that calmed you down some, doll," the nin whispered in her ear, "About time, too."

Sakura could only watch in horror as Sasuke approached Kiba's body, from the looks of things, he had passed out.

Sasuke pulled Kusanagi off his back fluidly and caught Sakura's eye with a smirk, "I'm afraid you forced my hand."

Lowering the blade to the back of Kiba's neck he asked, "So, Sakura, what would you do to save his life?"

Looking him dead in the eye, he knew her answer was sincere, "Anything," she replied desperately.

Sasuke smirked, '_Got you_,' he thought smugly.

"That's not enough," he told her.

Sakura screamed as he sliced Kiba's head off.

Ignoring her weakened body, she desperately started to fight against Suigetsu but he just chuckled darkly close to her ear.

Sasuke looked at her disdainfully, "And you called me pathetic."

But his voice didn't seem to come from his body. Sakura, still in a state of blind panic, continued struggling with Suigetsu who kept an easy hold on her as tears began to fall.

Suigetsu's voice cackled in her ear again, "How about I help you out, princess?"

Pulling out a kunai, he speared her thigh. The illusion faded as the throbbing pain affected her.

"G-genjutsu?" Sakura stammered, suitably disturbed by the mind-fuck.

"I thought that you were supposed to be good at those, Sakura," her name sounded far too smooth and sinister on Sasuke's lips, "It wasn't even particularly complicated. After all these years you've just managed to prove my point.

"You're a jounin now, right? So I have to presume you've reached some level of mediocrity as a kunoichi. And yet, because of your bond with the Inuzuka," he gave the unconscious body a light kick to the ribs in emphasis, "You couldn't see through a simple genjutsu. Pitiful."

"Sasuke, please! Let me heal him." Having already experienced the grief of having Kiba die, Sakura was fraught not to let it actually happen.

Her eyes were large and frantic, evidently the illusion was enough to bring her into submission.

There was a long pause before Sasuke spoke again.

"You said you were willing to do anything to save him, does your vow still stand?" He asked.

"Yes, whatever you want, I don't care!"

He had lost too much blood, sometimes Sakura hated ever training as a medic, her brain was far to adept at judging severity of wounds. She reckoned that Kiba only had another five minutes max. of blood to lose before his organs would start to shut down.

She needed to close the wound and give him one of the blood replenishing pills that she kept in a small pocket of her kunai pouch for these kind of emergencies.

"Alright. I'll let you heal him. But then I'm going to need you to come with us and do me a… favour, do we have a deal?"

"Yes! I promise," relief flooded through her system for a minute until she realised that Suigetsu seemed to have no intention of releasing her.

She pulled against him but his grip only tightened, "Hang on, Pinky. Not so fast."

Her infamous temper ignited, "I already agreed, Sasuke. Call off your pet."

Sasuke chuckled, and unlike the rare bursts of genuine laughter she had heard from him during their childhood, this sound was menacing and foreboding.

"You're little advancement in strength has gone to your head, Sakura. I find you've become entirely too arrogant-"

"You're one to talk, asshole!"

"Yes, but who's holding all the cards here, hm? I could kill the boy as quickly as let you save him."

With that little reminder of the leverage he held over her, Sakura reverted back to a panicked and rather meek little girl.

"I said I'd do what you wanted, Sasuke," her voice was tense with worry.

"Beg me." His reply was simple and to the point.

"What?" She answered, incredulous.

"Beg. Me," he repeated, slower, as if she was too stupid to comprehend the words.

Finally managing to shake Suigetsu off her, she sunk to her knees three feet from her tormenter.

Head bowed respectfully to the ground, she spoke, "Please Sasuke, I beg you, let me heal him." Her voice was tense with hatred and disgust.

Disgust with Sasuke for becoming such a sadistic, egotistical monster and disgust with herself for lowering herself to his mind games.

"Sasuke-_sama_," he corrected her.

Now, it was mainly disgust for him.

"Please, Sasuke-sama." She seemed to choke slightly on the honorific.

The only people she had ever referred to in person by -sama before were the Sandaime and Godaime Hokage and Gaara as Kazekage of Sand.

And she held a genuine respect for them, calling the man in front of her Sasuke-sama seemed to demean that respect somehow.

Above her, Sasuke grunted and she took this as permission-

'_Permission? I don't need permission from that emotionless bastard_,' she reminded herself angrily.

-to finish healing Kiba.

Pushing her chakra into him at an ungodly pace, she simultaneously tilted his head at an angle in order to force him to swallow the blood replenishing pill.

In doing so, the Inuzuka regained consciousness, his eyes blinking open wearily and his voice straining to speak.

"Sakura?" He pushed his upper body up on strong arms as he choked up several thick globs of blood with a hacking cough.

"Oh god, Kiba, your alright!" Sakura threw herself into him in a one armed hug, not caring that some of his blood mixed with saliva as it dripped out his mouth and oozed down her back.

Her other hand continued to focus her chakra into his back, acting like stitches to close the wound. She had performed this particular jutsu so many times she could do it with her eyes closed.

Sakura nearly started crying with relief when Kiba was able to hug her softly back. After seeing him decapitated there was a part of her that struggled to believe it had just been a genjutsu.

She could sense Sasuke walk up behind her and held on to Kiba tighter.

"He'll live. Lets go."

Combing her fingers lightly through Kiba's soft hair and inhaling his scent as she pulled away, she gave Sasuke a defiant look.

Pushing back on his shoulders gently, she pooled chakra into her fingertips again and searched Kiba's body for other injuries. She found two bruised ribs, a broken finger and one cut that was deep enough to require stitches.

"Listen, Sasuke-_sama_, I'm not leaving until he's fully healed, got it? I'm a woman of my word but if you expect me to do you this _favour _and carry out my end of this bargain you'll back the fuck up and let me work."

"Sasuke-sama? What's that about, Pinky?" Kiba questioned lightly.

He was still dazed from pain and blood loss and he absently stroked her cheek with one finger while she got to work on his ribs.

"Don't worry it about it, Inuzuka, it doesn't matter, alright," she smiled at him affectionately as she began to remove his clothes to get at his chest.

Suigetsu's sword had torn clean through the jounin jacket, black muscle shirt and mesh top that Kiba had been wearing to the point where she didn't have to remove them to fix up his back.

Pulling off his relatively intact jacket, Sakura used a kunai to slice through the remaining fabric of his tee-shirts.

"Not that I'm one to object, babe, but now's not really the time you know?" He winked at her, "We've got a bit of an audience and I wouldn't really feel comfortable doing it in front of your ex-"

His half-hearted attempt at humour was cut off by another choking cough.

"Give it a rest, dog-breath," she instructed him softly, lowering him back to the ground.

Turning impassively to Sasuke, she said, "Let the rest of my team through. He's still in no condition to walk or protect himself and if he dies then our deal is void."

Sasuke nodded and motioned to Suigetsu to call Juugo back.

He was a little uneased by how effortlessly Kiba had flirted with her and how affectionately Sakura was treating him.

Sasuke had occasionally wondered about the nature of Naruto and Sakura's relationship.

The last time he met them, they had certainly acted like a couple but now these two seemed far too comfortable with each other to just be occasional jounin team mates.

"You know I love you, right?"

A man's voice echoed in his ears and Sasuke turned, stunned, towards the source of the sound.

"I know I've never said it before but I kinda hoped you could tell."

The Inuzuka was declaring his love for Sakura.

'_My_ _Sakura_!' a voice in Sasuke's head screamed.

"All this time… You've made me really happy-" Kiba was cut off when the pink-haired kunoichi pressed her lips softly against his.

"I love you too," she whispered against his lips, tears once again gathering in her eyes.

She was jerked abruptly from the moment by a sharp tug on her dislocated right arm.

Wincing in pain she was pulled from the ground and tossed in the opposite direction.

"You're done here. We're moving on."

Sasuke wasn't sure why he reacted so violently upon seeing the display between Sakura and Kiba but he knew he didn't like it.

Walking towards Sakura he look hold of her arm once again and began dragging her away from the small clearing in which they had been fighting.

Sasuke had arranged a rendezvous point with Suigetsu and Juugo that was only a half hours run away.

There, he would inform Sakura of her duty.

Behind them, Kiba was pulling himself to his feet. "Wait!" He yelled after them, "Sakura, what's going on?"

He tried to follow but stumbled and fell back to the ground, his body still weakened from the injury.

"Don't worry, Kiba. I'll come back, I promise," Sakura swore as she looked back, tears burning in her eyes.

Sasuke wasn't sure if she meant she would return to Kiba or to Konoha but he did know that the idea of Sakura doing either left him with an uncomfortable feeling in his chest.

Letting go of her injured arm, he pushed her forward, "If you try to escape, I'll break both your legs," he told his captive dispassionately.

"Follow me."

He shot off into the trees, leaping from branch to branch so fast it looked like he was flying.

X

_Oh, the teenage boys,_

_They're breaking you're heart._

X

**Gah! And just like that it turns in to yet another horribly cliched kidnapping story... **


End file.
